Friday, May 16, 2014

VFW OUTRAGED BY VA ALLEGATIONS

VFW OUTRAGED BY VA ALLEGATIONS

Request to restore confidence brings President’s support

May 15, 2014

“The
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is outraged and frustrated that
nearly a month after some of these allegations surfaced, we still do not have
the facts,” testified Ryan M. Gallucci today before the Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee, regarding accusations that possibly 40 veterans may have died
waiting for care at the Phoenix VA Medical Center.

“We
do not know who the veterans are who may have died waiting for care,” said
Gallucci, an Iraq War veteran and deputy director of VFW’s National Veterans
Service directorate. “We do not know if other hospitals are cooking their
appointment scheduling books just to keep up appearances, or if veterans
waiting for care are paying for it elsewhere out of their own pockets.
Regardless of what comes out of ongoing investigations in Phoenix, Wyoming,
Atlanta, Chicago, Spokane and elsewhere, the VFW knows that veterans have died
waiting for care, which is inexcusable,” he said. “And true or not, the
allegations are causing veterans and their families to rapidly lose faith and
confidence in a system that is supposed to care for them, which is
unacceptable.”

Getting
to the bottom of VA’s problems and restoring confidence prompted VFW National
Commander William A. Thien to write President Obama last week to urge his
personal involvement to fix the problems that are plaguing the VA, and
consequently undermining the public’s trust in VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki
and his organization. Yesterday the president dispatched one of his closest
advisors, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors, to work with Secretary
Shinseki to get to the bottom of what allegedly happened in Phoenix and
elsewhere.

“The
president heard our voice and took the appropriate action to add additional
oversight to what has evolved into a crisis in confidence,” said Thien, a
Vietnam War veteran from Georgetown, Ind., who reiterated the outrage of his
members and their families.

“Last
week we asked VFW membership to tell us their own VA stories. From hundreds of
calls we learned some are very satisfied with their care, whereas others
painted a picture of a VA healthcare system that is overburdened, under
resourced, and at many times, paranoid. Everyone wants answers to the current
allegations where none currently exist, which is why we need the VA Inspector
General’s report to help separate truth from conjecture,” he said.

“Leadership,
management and accountability are our principal requirements of the VA,” said
the VFW national commander. “We helped to create the VA back in 1930, and over the
years the VFW has worked hard with every Administration and Congress to
increase the programs and services it provides to America’s wounded, ill and
injured veterans and their survivors,” he said. “We will not let the VA fail.”

Click
here
to read today’s congressional testimony, and here
to read the VFW national commander’s May 8 letter to the president.

About Me

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